Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-12-04
Concerning Twins.


Mr.. Gallon has shown that many
twins do actually behave under similar
circumstances in almost identical man
ners, that their characters often come as
close TO one another as it is possible for
the characters of two human beings to
come, and that even where the condi-
tons of later life have been extremely
different the original likeness of type
often persists to the very end, in spite of
superficial variations in style or habit of
living. Some of his stories, carefully
verified, are very funny. l will supple
ment them 10y two Of my own. In one
case a couple of twins (men) had guar
rel over perfectly unimportant mat
ter. They came to very high words.
aud parted from one another in bad
blood On returning TO their rooms
they lived apart-each of them suffered
from tit of remOrse, and sat down 10
write letter of contrihon to the other,
to be delivered by the morning post.
After writing it one brother read his let
ter over and, recalling the cause of the
quarrel, added at once a long postscript
justifying himself and reopening the
whole question at issue. The other bro
Their posted his note al once, but, think
ing the matter over quietly, afterwards
regretted his action again, and supple
mented it bya second palinodia, almost
unsaylng what he had said IN the first
one. | saw all three letters myself the
next morning, and was simply amazed
at their absolute sameness OF feeling and
expression.
The other story relates TO fact which
happened, not to twins, but to two sue
cessive brothers extremely like one an
other in build and feature, and evidently
modelled in mind and character on the
self-same mould. Ii IS only small in
cident, but as 1 can vouch for the cor
rectness of the minute details, it has a
certain psychological interest of its
own. They met a lady dressed IN blue
whom they had never seen before at
military dance Each of them asked
at once to be introduced to her at first
sight: each asked the same officer for
an introduction Though they had seve-
raj friends IL common present. each
described her in the same way, not as
"the lady in blue" Ohe most obvious
point of appearance about herr, but as
1.-THE lady with the beautiful ears :" each
fell desperately in love with her of, hand,
and each asked her for a particular
flower out Of little bouquet containing
four or five more conspicuous blossoms.
Finally each came up at the end OF the
evening to confide Iii the same married
lady of their acquaintance their desire
TO see more Of the beautiful stranger.
Still, even twins do distinctly differ III
some things from one another. How
ever much they may look alike to
strangers, they are always discrimina-
BILE by those who know them well, and
even in early childhood by mothers and
nurses. Huppin may always be readily
distinguished from Muppin by some
slight difference of feature or express
sion; Hus is always a trifle fatter
or thinner than Buz, ms brother the two
dromios and the two AntiphOluses may
deceive the outer public by their close
resemblance, but not even Shakespeare
himself con make rs believe that Mrs.
Autipholus was really mistaken as to the
personal identity of her own husband.
| / don't want to be too hard on a lady,
but fancy myself she was glad of the
excuse for a little innocent and easily
Yexplicabe Irritation with an agreeable
stranger.